I do have a couple critiques and suggestions if you would like to see more interest in your works here.

My biggest critique, almost a complaint, is that there is nothing particularly distinguishing, interesting, or unique about this format of transcription 'arrangements'. I don't mean to be insulting about it if it comes across that way but I can't put it into nicer words while retaining my sincerity. You're most certainly inspired by the wrong type of piano arrangements here -- those awful, uninteresting, unambitious 'easy mode' touhou piano arrangements that saturated the 2009 youtubes.

Why do people listen to music? For different reasons surely, but most probably listen to music to get some kind of experience out of listening. If you can't convince the listener that your music offers any substantially different experience from any of those other 'easy mode' piano arrangements on youtube, then the listener will go elsewhere.And it doesn't all come from the music being amazing (though that helps). People like to form emotional connections to music. The problem with bad transcriptions like the 'easy mode' youtube piano touhou arrangements is that they only serve to satisfy the most basic level of curiosity of 'oh, I wonder how this piece would sound like on a piano'. These transcriptions are so babelfish levels of bad, direct machine translations that it's impossible to form any sort of emotional attachment to these mechanical renditions. The emotional attachment comes from the original piece itself, the reduced piano version only provides a satisfaction to curiosity.

To begin with, that self-satisfying attitude towards transcription is entirely wrong. These are the people that would upload GXSCC '8-bit arrangements' just to satisfy the basic curiosity of 'oh I wonder how this would sound like in chiptune form'. Again, babelfish translations with no artistic or emotional value. The original point of even doing transcriptions were so that musicians could play pieces they liked on their own instrument. Here there is an actual personal element to the process and outcome. Musicians know the ins and outs of their instruments, they know how the instrument best expresses its music, and they know the limits and characteristics of their instrument. Transcribing music is simultaneously an art of reducing the original to be playable on another instrument while also exploring the music with the characteristics and limitations of the other instrument. Even though transcriptions tend to be literal, good transcriptions have their own unique touches of personality such that you could even appreciate the personality of the musician behind the transcription. This is why you can have multiple people doing their own transcriptions of the same music and come up with very different results that are each interesting.

Now I will provide you with something better. There's this one person I found whose touhou piano arrangements fall more towards transcription than arrangement, Mitty, that I really quite like. Here is a link to one of their videos of a piano version of the latter half of the music from DDC. Much different from those stock 'easy mode' transcriptions, no? You can hear the author's voice clearly through the multiple transcriptions they have in the same video. If you would like to gather more interest and, more importantly, grow as a musician, then I will strongly advise you against -- or even forbid you from -- ever referring to those awful stock 'easy mode' transcriptions and instead find inspiration from better sources such as that video I liked above. And this is only a starting point. Listening widely will give you much more, better ideas to use in your own arrangements.

(Oh, and as a further suggestion, I would suggest uploading actual music format files instead of midi files so that potential listeners don't have to go through the trouble of downloading the file and inserting it into some midi player application. Would you really want people to listen to the music you worked hard on with the default windows midi piano instrument sound?)

I tried to write a paragraph, but it may not have gotten my message across correctly, so I didn't bother. Here's a list; - I know what you're saying. - I agree. - I have plans associated with it (fancier individual pieces, medleys, etc.) - Not right now, but soon. - HRtP hasn't been cooperative. - I'm sorry. - I have reasons not to give music format-files (.mscz in my case), but I might release them anyway. - I'm still busy.

Also I am the opposite of "inspired" by those Easy Mode sheets. I actually hate them. I'm more "inspired" by my year-and-a-half of making VGM arrangements similar to the originals (which is something I should probably throw away too, it just gets in the way), and it happens to sound similar enough. Making fancier arrangements would actually be easier for me, because that would mean less time spent trying to get every exact note and chord. I've wanted to look into it, and I really don't understand why I didn't when I joined this forum.

Actually the idea of having two threads - for each kind of arrangement - is an idea that floats around in my head from time to time, but I don't think it would be necessary. It might even be better to purge these older sheets when I feel like replacing them. Right now I'm letting what I'm familiar with block potential creativity, and that's not good.

Thank you for bringing this up. I'll be messing around for a bit, and combined with (a lot of) work, means that an extremely temporary hiatus will commence on this thread.

Nothing too flashy just yet, but I just wanted to get something out there. The arrangement has a few differences here and there, most notably at the start and end, but nothing extravagant. Also yeah, I decided to throw in that MSCZ file in there too.

I'm still trying to figure out what I should be doing with this place. I have so many things I want to be doing, but I keep hesitating. I have an idea to turn this thread into a whole music-posting-place for myself, but I need to find platforms for more complex audio. SoundCloud seemed good, but it is a paid service, and I have no money. YouTube is a video-sharing website, not a music site, but as long as I can make some kind of image it should be fine. The problem is making that image lol. Also I'm trying to figure out how far off a Touhou song I can get without it flat-out not even being Touhou anymore. It's all interpretation work but it's very important.

It doesn't seem like this forum allows users to make polls on their own thread. Might not bother with that option.

First of all, thank you for your work! I downloaded a couple of your midis, as I prefer those to the actual music sheets with notes. Since I am not a real musician, I can't tell the notes apart only by ear, but I play the piano a little, being driven by the amazingness of touhou music in general. Really looking forward to you getting to MS and PoFW, those have some of the best pieces in the series, as for me.

Such transcriptions are probably not intended to be used like music files in the first place. It's more like a reference to musicians, as they try to play the piece on the actual instrument and maybe, yes, produce a more complex arrangement suitable for that instrument, piano or whatever. I enjoyed listening to Mitty's transcription, thanks Mea, but I would have probably enjoyed more if it was performed by hand, not by another of those machines. As for these transcriptions, I'm going to use them to improve my piano skill. They are fairly accurate, compared to the original composition, even if not exactly precise.

So uh... I'm back (or something lol). Dunno how consistent I'll be (I've been trying to do a whole lot lately), but I'm here right now. Ideas are still being thrown around concerning what I'll be doing with this thread, but two main points are consistent: 1) This sheet music business will keep happening. 2) I may begin to post other content. Yes, that's right. OTHER CONTENT. Sounds like witchcraft, sure, but I am actually capable of more than sheet music. I'm just lazy. If I'm bothered enough, there'll be changes to the format of the main post. I'm gonna stop talking about that now lol. Here's a new sheet:

I like this song, so I tried a lot harder to make this arrangement good. Before you complain about the rather standard left hand movements, the song literally has that being played (by guitars) so I needed it for accuracy (also rhythm was important). I did, however, add an ending to it. I'll probably be doing this for all of these sheets from now on, just to make them a bit more unique, as well as to give performers an optional finish.

I downloaded a couple of your midis, as I prefer those to the actual music sheets with notes. Since I am not a real musician, I can't tell the notes apart only by ear, but I play the piano a little, being driven by the amazingness of touhou music in general. Really looking forward to you getting to MS and PoFW, those have some of the best pieces in the series, as for me.

You don't need to be able to read notes to be a "real musician". It's just vital for most things. Many people can perform without knowing how to read the notes. Also MS and PoFV are pretty great, yeah, although I'm much less familiar with the former.

Such transcriptions are probably not intended to be used like music files in the first place. It's more like a reference to musicians, as they try to play the piece on the actual instrument and maybe, yes, produce a more complex arrangement suitable for that instrument, piano or whatever. I enjoyed listening to Mitty's transcription, thanks Mea, but I would have probably enjoyed more if it was performed by hand, not by another of those machines.

Well, that's exactly why they're there. I did like the idea of putting the notation software file in the folders, but honestly my reasons for not doing so before are starting to seem more important. Sheet music is meant to be performed, not read by software, so that's the purpose of midi files.

As for these transcriptions, I'm going to use them to improve my piano skill. They are fairly accurate, compared to the original composition, even if not exactly precise.

Oh hey that's great! It feels good knowing that what I do is worth something. That reminds me though... I should probably be putting a difficulty scale, as not all of my sheets are ridiculously hard nor ridiculously easy. Sometimes I can make a piece much harder than it should be, even though I like to keep within the realm of reasonable playability. Also some songs are extremely difficult to translate onto piano, so accuracy tends to waffle here and there.

UFO's extra stage theme is a really fun one, that theme. Your arrangement of it is already showing good improvements over your previous work, so good job! The first little section especially showed some new thought and personal ideas that added life. It does help that the original itself is very lively.

This next part is going to be a little wandering of words about left hand stuff in general. You mentioned something about your use of "rather standard left hand movements", meaning you do realize your trappings of the theme to this typical figuration. Maybe you actually do feel trapped and don't really know how to take it further from there? I can't speak for you, but I myself did previously was (and still sometimes kind of am) stuck on how to make left hand parts interesting. So I'm going to talk about my idea of what the role of the left hand is for a bit.You should know that music is generally thought to be constructed by three significant aspects: melody, harmony, and rhythm. The right hand typically deals with the melody. This leaves the bulk of the work of handling the harmony and rhythm to the left hand. While certainly the "standard left hand movements" that you describe does its job of defining the harmony and a rhythm well enough, it's certainly not all that could possibly be expressed, what could be missing?My view is that the left hand plays a big role in defining another very important aspect of music that isn't the above three, which is the texture of a passage. It's kind of a vague term, to describe how a certain passage 'feels'. The "standard left hand movements" is essentially an attempt at recreating the long harmonies that other instruments can play and hold out that the piano can't. I would describe its texture as 'rocky', since you rock back and forth between the bass note 1 and the 1,3 an octave above. While it works perfectly fine for a transcription attempting to capture the long harmonies of the bass instrument in the original piece, when stepping forward to express the theme in your own words, this question comes to mind: does this texture fit the theme? Or in other words, does this ('rocky') texture fit this theme about space/romance? When I think of space I think of large expanses, and things sweet and viscous of romance. Since this is purely an aesthetics question, I don't expect you or anyone to answer this question the same nor necessarily to even have to consider it for simple things, but it's certainly a thought to keep in mind as a tool for expression should you choose to seek it, express it, utilize it in the future.And the thing is, you already have the right idea of how to do this, as can be seen in those first couple measures. It's bouncy and playful, which captures both Kogasa and Nue's mischievous natures. Something overused need not necessarily be trite if it's used with purpose. Just something to tickle your thoughts about.

I feel terrible for not replying to this sooner. I try not to be too analytical concerning representation of elements outside of the original song's intended purpose and style, although matching atmosphere with the title makes a lot of sense. It's more difficult to achieve space or romance feels in such a quirky, upbeat song, but it's definitely something for me to think about for later sheets. Thanks a lot (again)!

This is something I thought would be fun to do. I mentioned a while ago that I can in fact mix full songs. Here's some short amount of proof, although it's very minimalist in style. I haven't yet stated which Touhou song this is, because I feel it would be more fun that way. Some of these will probably be more obvious than others. I might try to be consistent with posting these (unlike sheets lol), so that's likely every Sunday, unless I don't have time or don't have good ideas. Also all links will be on SoundCloud. A bit of a pain because SoundCloud seems to have a quality problem, which forces me to upload extremely high quality files in exchange for mediocre content. It mainly affects reverb and unpitched percussion more than anything.

Well, I never really expected that it would be so hard to make a comment. Still, I probably should try and say something, as there are really not enough active members in this section.

First of all, I wouldn't call this composition minimalistic in any way. It seems influenced by folk music, I instantly remembered something like that: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XrcOf169KzI, even though I heard it a very long time ago. It also resembles the pre-battle themes from SWR, needless to say, they are quite folkish as well. I am not a big fan of folk music, so nothing more to say here.

Next, it feels like some notes sound a bit off between 0:15 and 0:17. I don't think I can explain it properly. This part is just different than the rest of the composition, so it stands out. Was that intentional?

It's also worth noting that if this composition was rendered in the 8-bit fashion and maybe made a bit faster, it would resemble a great soundtrack from those times. I just imagined how that might sound. Also, I think that I have a clue about what it is based upon.

Anyway, it's quite a nice tune, calm and serene. Not many Touhou songs are like that.

First of all, I wouldn't call this composition minimalistic in any way. It seems influenced by folk music, I instantly remembered something like that: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XrcOf169KzI, even though I heard it a very long time ago. It also resembles the pre-battle themes from SWR, needless to say, they are quite folkish as well. I am not a big fan of folk music, so nothing more to say here.

I just meant there's just not much to it. I don't really know the name of this style, but I just happen to know instruments and techniques.

Next, it feels like some notes sound a bit off between 0:15 and 0:17. I don't think I can explain it properly. This part is just different than the rest of the composition, so it stands out. Was that intentional?

It's the Db-Eb-F chord progression. Just a remnant of the original song, that I couldn't quite remove without over-abusing the subdominant and dominant chords more.

It's also worth noting that if this composition was rendered in the 8-bit fashion and maybe made a bit faster, it would resemble a great soundtrack from those times. I just imagined how that might sound. Also, I think that I have a clue about what it is based upon.

I've been making quite a bit of chiptune recently, so I guess that might've influenced it a bit. I might try this suggestion because I can.

Anyway, it's quite a nice tune, calm and serene. Not many Touhou songs are like that.

That comes naturally due to the purposes of Touhou songs. There generally aren't reasons to have songs of this style, so Touhou has very minimal amounts of them. Shame because I really like this style. Thanks.

Also throughout, I noticed you continually called this a composition, even though I literally copy-pasted notes from a Touhou song, just altered heavily. I get that the arrangement is so far off the original it could be confused for one though. This is unless I've confused the definition of a "composition".

Like I said, it resembles SWR pre-battle themes (most of them are basically the same theme though, with slight changes to instruments and effects). They are about the same length as yours as well. Depending on what purpose the composition serves, it can be short or long, complex or really simple. There are even songs used for advertisements, that are even more minimalistic, but that fits their purpose, and they are still complete music pieces as they are. So... where would you imagine your song to be played? And does it still feel minimalistic within that context?

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I've been making quite a bit of chiptune recently

Wow, I've always wondered what kind of people do that, and what is the actual process of creating a chiptune. I'd like to hear more about it.

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That comes naturally due to the purposes of Touhou songs.

True. Some ending compositions are like that.

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Also throughout, I noticed you continually called this a composition, even though I literally copy-pasted notes from a Touhou song, just altered heavily. I get that the arrangement is so far off the original it could be confused for one though

I just don't like calling music without actual vocals "songs", so I chose that word. Either way, you came up with an idea, you made the arrangement, and you finalized it. So, no reason to not call it a composition, I guess. Even if it's an arrangement.

Wow, I've always wondered what kind of people do that, and what is the actual process of creating a chiptune. I'd like to hear more about it.

It's really complicated at first, but after a while all of the strange interfaces become natural. I use FamiTracker, which is often considered the best 8-bit synthesiser replicating the Famicom audio synth. As for the "kind of people who do that", I'm not really sure. Just people with an interest in it I guess.

I just don't like calling music without actual vocals "songs", so I chose that word. Either way, you came up with an idea, you made the arrangement, and you finalized it. So, no reason to not call it a composition, I guess. Even if it's an arrangement.

Preferring instrumental music (mainly VGM), I've always had a tendency to call all forms of music "songs", with a few exceptions that I make up every so often.

Nature aesthetic this time around, because I haven't done that before, and it seemed fun. It's sort of there I think, the only problem possibly being some clashing instrumentation. The drums are awfully jungle-like, but the oboe is more representative of temperate forests, which is what I was originally aiming for. To be honest I think a very gentle background waterfall sound could've worked well for what I was trying to display, but at least the strings do a good enough job with that. There are three Touhou songs arranged in here, which get progressively more loose and obscure.

Also I uploaded this thing in 32bit WAV quality, so this time the percussion doesn't sound completely weird, although that may just be because of the lack of a standard kit. The crash sounds fine.

It's actually really obvious what it is, although a little trick I did was make the entire first half my own composition. When the chorus hits it should be really obvious what song it is.

Also scrap that whole "sound quality" thing I was talking about earlier. Turns out things will just sound good if I don't suck at mixing. I've had some practice since I was last here and wow I sucked. Of course, I'm still terrible, but better than before at least.

So I tried my hand at this, because I felt like making something actual cool, even though I gave myself the same amount of time as the last one (good going, me). I've never finished a medley, nor have I finished something this long. Nevertheless, here it is. Definitely amateur at some points, but as to be expected from me. I'm no professional lol.

Also in exchange for the lack of the whole "loosely arranged" bit, I made the source of the melodies themselves obscure. This means instead of coming from an official Touhou game, they come from a fan game. I just randomly played this game again and remembered how good the music is.

also this medley really made me realise just how awful the zunpet soundfont from thfont is rip

the new arrange is so upbeat and fun. what fan-game inspired you? I've never actually played any fan games (maybe one or two but never finished.) I don't know much about music but I like what you're doing, and concidering you said you have only been making these for abou 2 years I think you are heading in a really good direction (at least from a visual artist's point of view..?) There's improvement and it's nice to see. Also I think another reason not many people commented on this post is the policy that spammy comments are to be avoided. So just many might not know what to say other then "nice job!" and just won't comment at all. A lot of posts on the entirety of the forum are like that, not that it's a bad thing but something to keep in mind. I'm excited to see maybe a future rendition of UFO's title screen a shadow in the blue sky one day. :~)

I don't know much about music but I like what you're doing, and concidering you said you have only been making these for abou 2 years I think you are heading in a really good direction (at least from a visual artist's point of view..?) There's improvement and it's nice to see.

Thanks! For my first year I only ever made sheet music but more recently I've been doing a bunch of mixing projects, and that's where I'm probably going to keep heading.

Also I think another reason not many people commented on this post is the policy that spammy comments are to be avoided. So just many might not know what to say other then "nice job!" and just won't comment at all. A lot of posts on the entirety of the forum are like that, not that it's a bad thing but something to keep in mind.

I mean, I don't really mind, but I actually didn't even know or think about that. Interesting.

I thought that it did sound very much like Akiyama Uni! So, I guess I was right, then?

Anyway, it's pretty good. What transient mokou said is correct, I'd like to give a more elaborate reply, but that would be quite a challenge. Your stuff is gradually getting better, that's all that can be said.

Anyway, it's pretty good. What transient mokou said is correct, I'd like to give a more elaborate reply, but that would be quite a challenge. Your stuff is gradually getting better, that's all that can be said.

It's that time of the month again, except this time I got nothing, so uh...

Have a crudely-drawn Doremy instead?

I was going to make something related to Doremy because of AoCF, but I kinda got lazy so this is all you get for now lol. I might properly finish the arrangement later, hopefully sooner than next month. In the time it took for me to make this image, I probably could've made that arrangement actually, but oh well. I'm just not in the mood right now I guess. For future months I plan on making all of my arrangements in a similar fashion for Volume 2 (so "Volumes" can be based on the year instead of pointless separation), but I'm having a hard time figuring out what should connect them all. Important decisions aaah.

I couldn't be bothered to transcribe and add in a bunch of the stuff from the original, so the intro's kinda empty. Also for fun I lowered the arrangement a quartertone like the original.

Right now (and probably for the rest of the year too), I'm mainly focusing on gaining a mixing style (which I can already see getting there), and just getting better at mixing in general (the never-ending journey to making THFont Zunpets sound good). This will start fairly simple, but soon enough you might start to hear some recorded instruments (whenever I get myself to play the violin lol), and more automation for volume/panning/etc. This may result in a lot of less-adventurous arrangements, but I'll try my best to make them unique anyway.

Speaking of mixing, SoundCloud's back at it again with the hi-hats sounding like static. I try to have fun with percussion and SC wants none of it lol.

As if I'm actually going to follow patterns. I'll just post whatever the heck I feel like at this point, because I can't get myself to do things for longer than a few weeks. This was something I actually posted for GensokyoFestival (on Tumblr), along with another one I may post some time. Hilariously the sound quality is better on Tumblr than the website dedicated to sharing music. Maybe I should start using Tumblr instead or something idk. I have no idea what purpose I was going for with this arrangement (which is actually a lie, but it's complicated), so I don't really know how to describe this thing well.

Also I actually have the thing intended for today ready, but I just didn't feel like it. More proud of this arrangement (it feels more like my style of music anyway). Maybe I'll post it some time during the month.

Because I'm just posting something I made a while ago (also for Gensokyo Festival), I'm also including an updated version of an older arrangement, specifically the first one I posted here. My mixing has... changed quite a bit since I started putting things here so I felt it was something good to do. I didn't just edit that though obviously. I feel like there's still more I could do with it but instrument choice is really hindering me there. As for that new arrangement: I wanted to use more of the brass thing at the start and end, but I ended up only using a clarinet for the main lead. It's just a nice instrument lol.

Just to say I enjoyed the arranges although I'm unfamiliar with the originals, and that I completely agree about the hi-hats. I find myself having to double check the original files when I upload things to check they didn't sound like that originally.

Your mixing has improved, I think (not that it wasn't already good to begin with). Still, there is room for further growth. The volume levels are slightly unbalanced between different instruments, also, I would have preferred more use of panning for wider sound (tbh, the Faithful arrangement was way better in those aspects). Maybe you should pay more attention to this sort of thing and not rush your work too much, until everything is perfect. Also, it seems like you are trying to use a broader variety of effects than before, which sounds great, so thank you for that - I really enjoyed listening to both pieces.

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hi-hat quality

So true.

As for the previous piece - Sweet Dreams, was it? What I like most about this arrangement is that it really shows your own unique style. Which you have obviously already developed, not that I am jealous or anything...

The volume levels are slightly unbalanced between different instruments, also, I would have preferred more use of panning for wider sound (tbh, the Faithful arrangement was way better in those aspects).

Concerning volume, it's really a thing I'm probably terrible at (because I really like hearing accompaniment layers over melodies sometimes, etc.). Concerning panning, whether I pan more or not depends on what instruments I have, and how they're used. As for what I just posted, I happened to do some weird panning automation to the piano, among other things. I really should try to add even more layers just for the purpose of spreading the sounds outwards.

Maybe you should pay more attention to this sort of thing and not rush your work too much, until everything is perfect. Also, it seems like you are trying to use a broader variety of effects than before, which sounds great, so thank you for that - I really enjoyed listening to both pieces.

Hehe... rushing work... I'll be honest, that'll probably be something I'll never stop doing. That's more for personal reasons though. As for effects, I'm still working on it! Synths in particular always get me. Reverb and Delay is already bad enough, but then there's all this stuff like LFO and filters that I need to get the hang of. It's all so confusing to me right now...Also glad you liked them!

As for the previous piece - Sweet Dreams, was it? What I like most about this arrangement is that it really shows your own unique style. Which you have obviously already developed, not that I am jealous or anything...

Well... my style is still constantly changing, but I'm noticing some small consistencies here and there I guess. The style for that arrangement was derived from the original idea and my composing ability. No need to be jealous really, haha.

Just to say I enjoyed the arranges although I'm unfamiliar with the originals, and that I completely agree about the hi-hats. I find myself having to double check the original files when I upload things to check they didn't sound like that originally.

Glad you enjoyed them! The hi-hats are actually annoying me so much. As soon as I'm able to make good thumbnails I'm probably getting out of there tbh.

Yeah I was quite close to forgetting my existence here. Blame it on being my last year of high school.

Been a while since I've finished one of these loose arrangements. This one is by far the most loose, although one particular phrase of the melody is identical to the original (in the middle, when the organ starts). No one would recognise it from just hearing it I don't think (also song choice is to blame, as I didn't exactly pick a "popular" touhou song). Also I don't know where I was going with this. It's got synth, but the genre leans towards ska, and there's a jazz organ and idk. I didn't give myself a specific genre to work with, which in the end was probably a bad idea, but eh whatever.

I decided to attempt an arrangement with a specific rhythmic pattern in mind (it should be really obvious when you hear it). It resulted in something quite funky, I have to say. I did also mess around further with ensembles. I'm quite happy with how this one turned out.

I may as well say that this particular idea of writing music based on a rhythmic pattern is influenced by a rhythm game series known as "Rhythm Heaven", which is great and you should all try it. Definitely not your ordinary rhythm game, and has great music.

This time I have two versions of what is pretty much the same thing (one just has a drumkit beat and is slightly faster, with its existence being for personal reasons too complicated to explain). It's the second time I've dealt with an orchestral ensemble (the first being a composition of mine which went much better), but this use of it is greatly different to a more traditional orchestration. Dabbling into different ensembles is something I enjoy. The arrangement itself is of two pieces, one is a very straightforward arrangement, the other... not so much, though it's very, very recognisable anyway.

hi-hat

I'm going to very busy in the next few months (up until November 1, when I'm completely free), so I can't confirm if monthly uploads will still be a thing during then (unless I can just post some of my interpretation arrangements instead, because those could easily get me through those few months).